Pic replaces distrib's spoof comedy 'A Haunted House 2,' which moved to April 18

Historically, that March slot has been occupied by an action entry — last year, Paramount’s “G.I. Joe: Retaliation” bowed that weekend, with an impressive $40.5 million. Yet, that’s a high bar for “Sabotage,” which stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as the leader of an elite DEA task force. Schwarzenegger’s recent action films, “Escape Plan” and “The Last Stand,” failed to gain much traction at the box office.

That said, Ayer’s 2012 film “End of Watch” stands as one of Open Road’s highest-grossing films to date with north of $41 million domestically.

“Sabotage” co-stars Olivia Williams, Mireille Enos, Sam Worthington, Terrence Howard and Joe Manganiello. The film was produced and financed by QED Intl.